Chatty coasters, light play, and dance

The coasters communicate by sending messages across the surface. The messages are meant to act as icebreakers between bar patrons, says Tom Bartindale, who invented the coasters with fellow postgraduate student Jack Weeden at Newcastle University’s Culture Lab. “It’s a starting point for an actual conversation,” Bartindale says.

Lovely, context-sympathetic use of tech. There’s something magical about light play around physical objects. Check out some related ideas in this stage work by Chunky Move (I was lucky enough to catch them at SEAM 2010 in Sydney.)